Tick-Tock
by Rocker-Princess-97
Summary: Request from retro mania. Cuckoo Clock of Doom AU. Michelle Webster is just an ordinary teenager until suddenly her life is turned upside down. She never expected her father's new cuckoo clock would turn out to be evil!
1. Prologue

Hey everyone! I'm back for a new story! HA! You guys thought I died, didn't you?! Sorry to disappoint, but I'm back! I'm like a bad penny; you can't escape me! *insert evil laughter*

Anyway. In all honesty, the reason I just kind of disappeared off the face of the planet is because I was going through a difficult time (curse you emotions!) and I had absolutely no inspiration to write. It's still kind of difficult, but I'm coming out of my funk. I wanted to say thank you to all my loyal followers...I hope you haven't given up on me. I'll do my very best to not disappoint you again!

This story was requested by **retro mania,** so in all honesty, you guys should be thanking him because his request inspired me to write again.

 **Warning(s)**

Gender-bending

The occasional curse word

Teens being teens

Possible OOC-ness, but I'll try to keep that to a minimum

More to be added as it comes up

Don't like any of the above? Don't read!

Still with me? Good. Enjoy guys! You all know the drill!

 **Disclaimer-** I own NOTHING!

* * *

Tick-Tock

Prologue

In an ordinary town, there was an ordinary girl. She was average height, average intelligence, and average appearance. There was nothing about her that was particularly spectacular, and if anyone asked, she would simply respond that she had no special skills. She didn't have a plan, she didn't know where she would be when she graduated in four years, and she certainly didn't plan to change any of that anytime soon. She was ordinary, and everyone around her would readily agree with that assessment, except her parents of course, because it is the job of the parent to encourage and love and overall sing praises of their children, no matter how ordinary they may be.

This ordinary girl had plain sandy-colored hair braided halfway down her back, plain boring brown eyes, plain features that didn't stand out in any way, and she wore plain clothes that most guys would typically wear. More often than not, she was seen in a plain, solid color, boring t-shirt, slightly ragged blue jeans, and white sneakers that had definitely seen better days. In fact, the only thing that was memorable about this particular girl was the fact that she had the tendency to wear guy clothes.

Her name was Michelle Webster, and yes, she was completely, one hundred percent ordinary. Nothing exciting ever happened in this fifteen year old girl's life, and she assumed that nothing exciting ever would happen because that was just the way of the world. However, as is the case with teenage girls, on the inside, she was in turmoil. At age fifteen, she was at the point in her life where nothing made sense and she felt the need to rebel, to break the rigid conformity her parents forced upon her and to find her own path that she might one day follow.

Michelle's parents wanted her to follow in their footsteps; in other words, they wanted her to be boring. Boring wasn't her style. Oh sure, she tolerated it now, but she knew if she just had a chance to get out of this oppressive life, this decaying atmosphere that pressed down so heavy on her chest, she knew she could be something extraordinary! So she moved through life trying to pacify her parents but still be herself.

No one understood her reasoning, not her parents, and certainly not her bratty little brother. Her friends got it, to an extent, but they weren't exactly like her. Her friends liked sports, they liked to mess around, and yes, they even liked extreme skateboarding like she did, but they were still girls, and on occasion, they liked to go to the mall, and… _ **shop.**_ Shopping was the worst. Michelle would rather stab a needle into her own eye than… _ **shop.**_ That was how much she hated it. So her girl friends were irrational and liked to torture themselves, and recently, her guy friends had been nothing but clumsy bulls on steroids. It was all about football, all about MVP, all about how hot that new girl was. She didn't want to hear it! What happened to playing the game just because? When did it become about being the best on the high school's Junior Varsity team to get a full sports scholarship to the college of their choice? Didn't anyway just…love the game anymore?

The boys said she didn't understand because she was a girl. On the other hand, the girls said she didn't get it because she spent too much time with the boys. One thing the two groups agreed on was that she hadn't matured enough yet to understand anything. Michelle felt as though she was stuck between a rock and a hard place, and there was absolutely no way out.

She hated it. It made her feel sick inside, it made her stomach turn and boil and she wanted nothing more than to scream her rage to the sky. Michelle sometimes wanted to hit her friends upside the head because they were just so _**stupid.**_ It made her furious and a roiling anger that she could barely describe consumed her until all she saw was red. Worst of all, she wasn't always certain just _**what**_ had made her so angry in the first place. These emotions confused her and so she did her very best to ignore them.

Not only were her relationships with her friends and family going to hell, but her grades were going down the toilet, too! She had Cs in most of her classes, and her parents just kept nagging her about doing well in school, going to college, getting a career, blah, blah, blah, she really didn't care. It was all too boring; she just wanted to play sports! The teachers weren't helping either. In the past year alone, she couldn't count how many times she'd been pulled aside by either one of her teachers or the principal himself to get the classic "apply yourself and you'll go far" lecture when she would rather just go to the park and skateboard, and she had even skipped school before to do that very thing. Her parents had been livid when they found out how many times she'd skipped and had proceeded to take away everything she owned and ground her for a month.

Tommy, the little brat, found the whole thing absolutely hilarious.

Ah, yes, eleven year old Tommy Webster was a whole other set of problems in and of himself. He drove his older sister absolutely, one hundred percent, utterly and completely insane. There were many times in Tommy's short eleven years of life that Michelle had considered murdering him. He broke into her room, stole and hid her stuff, he flung her computer out the window once and called it an accident, he'd snapped several of her CDs and disk games in half, he'd taken her bike and left it on the curb with the garbage and she'd never seen it again, and one year, when they were on vacation, a cruise in the Bahamas, he'd taken her skateboard (she never went anywhere without it) and thrown it into the ocean! It was a limited edition one, too! These mischievous things he always did at the absolute last second, so that by the time Michelle figured out what he'd done, she could never find time to fix his mistakes. And her parents let him get away with it all! More than once, her parents had caught her with her hands at Tommy's throat after all of his tricks, and _**she**_ had been punished for strangling her brother while he got a cookie and a pat on the head for destroying her things! Oh, how she loathed her brother with every fiber of her being! There was absolutely no familiar affection for Tommy in her.

So, in a nutshell, sometimes she felt like her life had gone to hell in a hand-basket.

Fifteen year old Michelle Webster. Ordinary girl all around. Every girl felt like that at her age. However, poor, poor Michelle didn't realize that she hadn't even _**seen**_ "hell in a hand-basket" yet.

* * *

There you have it, guys! The prologue for my second Goosebumps fanfic! Since I'm trying to get into a rhythm for my updates, **the next chapter will be up on Sunday August 9th.** Sorry for the short prologue guys. Like I said, I'm trying to get back into writing fanfics. A prologue isn't supposed to be super long anyway.

Hope it's what you were looking for, retro mania!

As always, my readers, you know what I'm going to say!

Reviews are love!

Flames shall be fed to my pet Cerberus.


	2. Chapter 1

I'M NOT DEAD, I SWEAR!

Guys...I think I rewrote this story twenty times. Crazy right? Sorry about the wait.

This story was requested by **retro mania,** so in all honesty, you guys should be thanking him because his request inspired me to write again.

Oh, forgot to say this last time: Go check out EasternWolf23

 **Warning(s)**

Gender-bending

The occasional curse word

Teens being teens

Possible OOC-ness, but I'll try to keep that to a minimum

More to be added as it comes up

Don't like any of the above? Don't read!

Still with me? Good. Enjoy guys! You all know the drill!

 **Disclaimer-** I own NOTHING!

* * *

Tick-Tock

Chapter 1

The second hand ticked and inched its way closer and closer to the goal. The world narrowed to the presence of that hand. One minute passed. It kept going, kept ticking. Nothing else mattered. All of her surroundings faded away, the voices of her teacher and peers were obsolete as her vision tunneled on that clock. Another minute. Three more left.

 _Tick._

 _Tock._

 _Tick._

 _Tock._

 _Tick._

 _Tock._

Two minutes left. Time slowed, and she swore that the second hand stopped moving momentarily. A wail of despair wanted to burst from her throat, but she held it down. She wanted time to fly, she wanted it to be as obsolete as the people around her, she wanted to be outside the confines of time and space and her chaotic life in general.

 _BRRRING! BRRRING!_

Michelle Webster jumped, startled by the sudden ringing of the bell, announcing the end of the school day. She smiled broadly and hurriedly gathered up her things and all but tore out of the room. The plain girl hurried to her locker and yanked the door open, pulling out her messenger bag and shoving her books in before making a beeline for her best friend's locker.

"Happy birthday Michelle!"

"Heh, finally fifteen huh kid?"

"Happy fifteenth birthday, Michelle!"

"Thanks guys!" Michelle waved to her friends on the football team as they passed her in the hall, calling out to wish her a great rest of her birthday. She had been friends with the ones that had just passed her since grade school; though she was a little surprised some of the upperclassmen had wished her happy birthday earlier as well. It definitely wasn't what she had been expecting but she wasn't going to say she wasn't happy about it. Sometimes her school life was better than her home life. At least here, there was no annoying little brother who would sneak around behind her back to ruin her life in every way imaginable.

"So." Danielle said when Michelle stopped right beside her locker moments later. Michelle raised an eyebrow as her friend continued digging around in her locker, not even looking at the other girl.

"So…? So what?" Michelle asked, eyebrow still raised skeptically as she leaned against the locker next to Danielle's. Danielle finally slammed her locker shut and turned to face Michelle, eyeing her up in down and mirroring her raised eyebrow look. Danielle was a petite, pretty African American with a soft face and sincere eyes that made you want to confess your darkest sins. She often wore her long hair in a braid to keep it out of the way whenever they would play sports or go to the skate park. Danielle also liked to play mind games. She would say quick, short words that were loaded with accusation and scorn when in reality she just wanted to see if you had any secrets to confess so she could hold it over your head forever and ever amen. With all the secrets Danielle held after tricking people into confessions, it would be simple for her to completely destroy the lives of over half of the high school.

And Michelle absolutely loved her for it.

It was a skill not many people had, and Michelle often envied her best friend's natural talent. Danielle's soulful brown eyes had led many people to their social doom. Seniors, juniors, sophomores, even their whole freshman class owed Danielle a great deal of respect. Though, perhaps respect wasn't exactly the right word. No, not respect at all, they all feared her. Wasn't that just something? A whole high school, brought to their knees and cowering in fear in the presence of a five foot four girl with the power to destroy their lives. That was how many secrets Danielle had harvested from so many minds.

At first, no one took her seriously. So, the third day of their freshman year, Danielle had outed some of the secrets in her possession. The Quarterback of the football team who had dared called Danielle a freak? Mysterious proof of him being on steroids wound up on the principal's desk by 8:45 the next day. Four hours later, that unfortunate soul was dismissed from the team and all of his scholarship offers were gone. The cheerleader who had laughed when Danielle had "accidentally" dumped her tray all over the school bully? Incriminating photos wound up on that cheerleader's Facebook page and led to the girl being labeled as a whore.

Point was, Danielle knew things, and she always had proof. No secret was safe from her, and the secrets of her friends were no exception. The only difference was, Danielle had never so much as hinted at revealing any of her friend's secrets.

"So what time should I be over tonight?" Danielle asked, her stoic expression breaking into a wide grin, and Michelle grinned back, glad her friend hadn't forgotten.

"Mom and Dad said everyone could come over around five. Sound good?" Michelle offered, and Danielle nodded with the same bright smile still on her face. "Alright! See you at five, Danni! I've got to go check with the others!" Michelle said, waving to her friend as she took off down the hall, dodging all the people in the process. She made a beeline for the set of lockers at the end of the hall where her other two friends stood talking to each other. "Lilly, Karen, five o'clock, my place, you guys remembered right?" Michelle asked as she stopped in front of her friends. Lilly nodded, flashing her signature smile while Karen just gave her a look that said, "Really? You're really asking me that?"

Lilly Aarons had curly dark brown hair and a beaming smile that was always on her face and always showed her dimples. Lilly had the ability to draw anyone in with her sweet and charming personality. All the guys in the school fawned over her angelic features...then she opened her mouth. Everything she said flew right over their heads and if that didn't scare them away, they took off running for the hills when they learned Lilly was a thirteen year old sophomore. Her brain had allowed her to skip several years of school and she probably could have graduated already but her parents insisted she experience high school. So Lilly stayed a sophomore but she just coasted through the classes, complaining they were too easy. Many of the other girls at school gave her grief for her brains and for the fact that she dressed like a boy rather than wearing girly clothes all the time. All in all, Lilly Aarons was an overly intelligent and charming girl who often got the short end of the stick, but she couldn't hurt a fly.

Karen Darren was the exact opposite of the sweet, timid thirteen year old. For years, people had teased Karen for her rhyming name. To this day, Karen swore up and down that her parents were high when they named her. One day when the teasing was too much, Karen snapped and sent the poor kid to the hospital. It was a downward trend from that point on. Karen had been held back two years and had been suspended many times for getting into fist fights. At age seventeen, she already had a record, and people said she was going nowhere fast. Everyone had stereotyped her as the bad girl who would drop out as soon as she turned eighteen and would end up in prison by twenty-one. So everyone was surprised when all of a sudden Karen had cleaned up her act (only slightly) and removed her nose piercings before she suddenly started getting Bs and Cs in her classes rather than Ds and Fs. There was much speculation about why Karen Darren had cleaned up her act, but only Michelle and her circle of friends knew it was because Lilly had taken a shining to Karen and followed her around like a lost puppy. Karen couldn't shake her follower and so decided to be a better person rather than hurt Lilly in any way.

"Of course we remembered! We'll see you at five, Michelle!" Lilly replied with that bright, genuine smile still on her face. Karen still said nothing, just continued trying to glare a hole into Michelle's head, and Lilly's smile faded slightly before she elbowed the seventeen year old girl in the side. Karen grumbled under her breath but made no move to retaliate.

"Yeah yeah. Course I remember. Why are you even asking me that? Duh," Karen scoffed and Lilly just sighed, shaking her head at the older girl but not saying anything. Despite their friendship, Lilly knew that Karen and Michelle sometimes clashed in personality and only Lilly's peacemaking ways kept everything in order. That, and Danielle's overall scariness.

"Alright, thanks guys! See you at five!" Michelle said, waving before she headed for the exit, passing many more people on her way out and thanking many more for wishing her a happy birthday. When she walked outside, she immediately saw her mother's minivan waiting to pick her up and take her home. Michelle slid into the passenger seat and happily greeted Angela Webster. "Hi Mom!" Michelle chirped happily as she pulled on her seat belt and her mom pulled out of the parking lot.

"Hi Michelle. Did you have a good day at school?" Angela asked softly, glancing at her daughter from the corner of her eye before glancing back to the road. Michelle nodded eagerly and proceeded to tell her mother about her day. However, when Michelle finished explaining everything that had happened, Angela only replied distractedly, "That's nice, honey." Michelle sulked the rest of the way home. Angela Webster barely gave her daughter the time of day anymore, let alone hold a conversation with her.

It had all started eleven years ago, when the bane of her existence entered the world. She had been content, happy, and then her parents announced she would have a younger brother or sister. Michelle was excited at first; she had always wanted a younger sister. Then life took a wrong turn. Tommy Webster came into the world and everything changed. Her parents gave her only scraps of their time and the baby cried all night, causing her to lose even more sleep than her parents considering the baby's room was right next to hers. It had been like that ever since and she had been miserable at home. Oddly enough, school was her only sanctuary.

Her friends understood to an extent, and more often than not, she ended up staying with Danielle or Lilly. Not Karen, no, never. They all spent the night at Karen's house once. All four of them swore to never mention it again. Needless to say, no one had ever stayed overnight with Karen ever again.

Michelle grimaced when the van pulled into their driveway and the garage door went up so Angela could pull in. Her mother didn't hesitate to open the door and go into the house, but Michelle took her time, slowly climbing out of the van, picking her backpack off the floorboards, and then she trudged into the house. She paused upon seeing Tommy perched on the couch, flipping through the channels on TV with a bored look on his face...but the bored look seemed forced. Michelle's eyes immediately narrowed. What was he up to this time? "Mom?" Michelle called, and Angela poked her head in from the kitchen.

"Yes dear?"

"Why is Tommy home from school?" Michelle asked suspiciously. Tommy didn't react to either of them, seemingly absorbed in some weird show he found that was about pirates* but Michelle could swear she saw a mischievous smirk flash across his face before he schooled his expression into a careful, neutral one. Tommy's school started a whole hour later than Michelle's. He always left an hour after her, and got home an hour after her. He should **not** be home at this point.

"Oh, he didn't feel well so I let him stay home today," Angela replied with a shrug before going back into the kitchen. Michelle's jaw dropped in shock, and then Tommy, that little brat stuck out his tongue at her with an impish grin on his stupid, smug face. Michelle's face turned bright red with rage and she leapt over the couch with a screech of anger, tackling Tommy to the floor.

"You little brat!" Michelle shouted as she wrestled her brother. "What did you do? What are you planning? It's my fifteenth birthday, if you ruin this day for me I will **kill** you!" Michelle succeeded in pinning her brother and tried to strangle him. She wasn't trying to completely cut off his airway, though, which is why he had enough air to start screaming at the top of his lungs. Michelle was startled but refused to get off him, knowing he was just being dramatic.

"Mommy, mommy, Michelle's trying to kill me! MOMMY!" Tommy howled. He managed to get his leg free and kick his sister in the stomach repeatedly. "I didn't even **do** anything! MOMMY!" Angela rushed into the room as Tommy finished screeching and put his leg down.

"Michelle! Get off your brother or your friends won't be coming over," Angela scolded as Michelle flopped back onto the floor, winded by the repeated kicks to her stomach. She stared up at her mother in shock as Angela helped Tommy to his feet and started fussing over him. "Oh my poor baby. Are you alright? Did Michelle hurt you?" Tommy sniffled and shook his head, hugging their mother and shaking as though he was crying. When Angela turned her glare on Michelle, Tommy peered around and smirked at Michelle. "Go to your room and do your homework and don't come out until your friends get here!"

Fuming, Michelle got to her feet and stormed up the staircase, heading to her room at the end of the hall. "Stupid mom. Stupid Tommy. Stupid life," Michelle muttered to herself as she swung open the door to her room. It slammed into the wall with a loud BANG! Michelle stepped over the threshold quickly, just in time for a bucket full of melted ice cream and cake to be dumped over her head. For a moment she was frozen, horror rising in the pit of her stomach as she noticed the colors of the cake frosting. This wasn't...oh, it _**totally**_ was. Rage exploded in her chest and she opened her mouth, screaming at the top of her lungs, _**"**_ _ **YOU'RE DEAD, TOMMY!**_ _ **"**_

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I'm so, so sorry it took me so long to get this done. I cut a lot out of this chapter, rewrote it several times, edited it, and just overall struggled. Then I wasn't sure how to end it. But! I finally got this chapter to where it was...semi-acceptable.

B.T.W.: Whoever says senior year in high school is the easiest year? They LIE!

*Tommy is a little shit-head but he has good taste in shows. Why yes, he is watching _One Piece_ thanks so much for asking!

ADDITIONAL DISCLAIMER: _One Piece_ belongs to Oda.

Now I noticed I didn't get a big response last chapter. I'm not too surprised, but I want more feedback. So! I will not update until I get THREE reviews from three DIFFERENT people.

Why yes, I am holding next chapter hostage.

REVIEW!


	3. Chapter 2

Welcome back to chapter 2 of Tick-Tock! I'm so glad for the support you guys have given me!

On another note, college is difficult. I'm glad it is difficult because high school was honestly too easy, but I came home for Christmas break and have been sick the whole time. Ever had mono guys? It's not fun! I also had laryngitis. Now I have a sinus infection. What the heck?

This story was requested by **retro mania,** so in all honesty, you guys should be thanking him because his request inspired me to write again.

Go check out EasternWolf23! (Literally all you have to do is go to my favorite authors and click on her name; it's not difficult.)

 **Warning(s)**

Gender-bending

The occasional curse word

Teens being teens

Possible OOC-ness, but I'll try to keep that to a minimum

More to be added as it comes up

Don't like any of the above? Don't read!

Still with me? Good. Enjoy guys! You all know the drill!

 **Disclaimer-** I own NOTHING!

* * *

Tick-Tock

Chapter 2

By the time her friends arrived at five o'clock, Michelle, fresh out of the shower, was still seething over her brother's antics. As per usual, her mother had waved his behavior away as though it was of no consequence while her poor father had to hurry to the store in an attempt to replace the ice cream and cake Tommy had ruined. That's how it always was; Angela made excuses, Herman cleaned up the mess. It wasn't fair to her father, and it wasn't fair to Michelle herself, but Michelle had learned quite quickly that life wasn't fair.

Still, she knew she needed to grin and bear it, if only for her father. She knew he tried really hard to keep the peace, and Michelle loved him all the more for it. Shaking herself from her thoughts, Michelle smiled brightly as she joined her friends in the kitchen. She was not about to let Tommy the Terrible Terror* ruin her birthday! "Hi Michelle! Here's your present!" Lily said, bounding forward with the present held in front of her like some sort of offering. "Will you open it right now? I think you'll love it!" Lily said, so excited that she was bouncing in place, eyes practically shining as she looked up at Michelle. Michelle grinned and was ready to open the present, when her mother intercepted her.

"Michelle, wait until later. I'm sorry Lily, but some of our relatives are coming by to drop off presents for Michelle and I want her to open them all at once. Go ahead and put the presents in the dining room for later, please," Angela said. With a sad nod of agreement, Lily slunk into the dining room to quickly place the present on the counter, Karen and Danielle following the youngest girl's sad lead. Michelle turned and gave her mother a dirty look, which Angela did not appreciate. "Don't give me that look young lady. Your father set up the gaming console in the family room. I'm sure you can all pass the time easily by playing your games," Angela dismissed before returning her attention to the food she was cooking. Michelle grumbled under her breath but retreated to the family room with her friends to play some video games. They played Call of Duty for a few hours before Angela called them in to the kitchen to eat dinner.

"Everything looks great Mrs. Webster," Lily said respectfully as they all started eating. At Michelle's request, they were having homemade macaroni and cheese and fried fish with mashed potatoes and green beans. There was idle chatter throughout the meal, and then it was finally time to open presents. Apparently, Michelle's relatives had only wished to drop the presents off and then head out because they had been passing through on their way to Niagara Falls. Michelle smiled brightly and headed into the dining room to open her presents.

However, as soon as the sliding doors to the dining room opened, Michelle let out a blood-curdling scream. "TOMMY! You little brat!" Michelle screeched in dismay at the wrapping paper tossed all around the room. One of her presents, a new CD, had been taken out of the packaging and was now lying on the floor, the scratch on it clear as day. The new skateboard that her parents had planned to give her, though they didn't know that she had found it in the hall closet, was missing one of the wheels, which they would probably never find, and various games for her console were tossed haphazardly around the room. Tommy peaked into the room and blinked innocently at his sister. "Don't give me that fake innocent look!" Michelle screamed, pointing at him in anger. Tommy just seemed puzzled, as though he had not noticed the state of the dining room yet.

"Yes sister dearest? Whatever is the matter?" he asked innocently. Michelle gave an incoherent scream of rage, leaping towards Tommy, only to be caught by Karen grabbing the smaller girl under the arms and lifting her off her feet. Tommy pretended to finally notice the state of the dining room "Oh? What happened here, Michelle?" he asked, stepping into the room and gazing at everything in curiosity.

"Don't play dumb you little brat! I know it was you! You always ruin everything, ever since they day you were born you've been ruining my life! I hate you! I wish you'd never been born!" Michelle screamed, kicking and struggling, but ultimately unable to escape Karen's strong grasp.

"Michelle!" Angela gasped, looking like she was about to scold her daughter, only to gasp once more in shock when she caught sight of the dining room. "Tommy! Did you do this?" Angela asked, glancing at her son, who gave her an innocent look. Angela only sighed before glancing at her screaming daughter while Karen tried to hold her back and the other two tried to calm her down. "Herman, maybe you should take Tommy to his friend's house for the night. Michelle needs some time away from her brother," Angela sighed again, glancing at her husband who stood behind her. Herman could only sigh and nod in agreement, rubbing a hand over his eyes and grasping Tommy's arm to drag him from the room.

"Go pack your stuff, Tommy. You're staying somewhere else tonight," Herman said. "Angela, why don't you call the Petersons and see if they would be willing to have Tommy spend the night?" Herman asked his wife. Angela nodded and hurried into the kitchen to go make the call. A few minutes later, Tommy bounded back down the stairs, grin bright and happy. Herman narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Tommy had almost been too quick in getting packed up. Almost like he had planned this. "Don't think you're getting off so easy, mister. When you get back tomorrow, you're going to be in big trouble," Herman scolded, grabbing his son's arm again to hold him in place, as though afraid he would cause more trouble if Herman didn't keep a firm, yet gentle grasp on the boy.

"The Petersons will take Tommy for the night, Herman," Angela said softly. "Bye sweetie. You be good for the Petersons," Angela said quietly, handing Tommy a container with a slice of birthday cake in it. "There's some cake for you since you won't get to have any tonight," she said, ruffling her son's hair. Herman resisted the urge to roll his eyes at his wife. Unlike his wife, he was well aware that their second child was a brat, but there was nothing he could do about it. Angela insisted on spoiling him, and though Herman felt sorry for Michelle, Herman couldn't very well send Tommy off to boarding school like he wanted to without Angela's consent.

"Fine. I'm taking Tommy over there. Try not to scold Michelle too much, Angela. Tommy's pulled two stunts on her tonight. Give her some time to cool off before you read her the riot act for what she said to him," Herman advised his wife. Angela nodded like she understood, but Herman wasn't so sure she would take his advise. That woman was so stubborn. Sometimes, Herman wondered why he'd married her in the first place. Was she always like this?

Meanwhile, Michelle was finally calming down, and had gone back into the kitchen with her friends to see about some cake and ice cream. Bless her father, the man was practically a saint. Michelle had no idea how he had managed to get a replacement cake on such short notice, especially since the cake had "Happy Birthday Michelle" written on it with Navy Blue icing. She frowned when she noticed there was a piece of cake missing, but decided not to ask, worried it would only lead to an answer she didn't exactly want to hear at the moment. Michelle was going to pretend her dad had taken a piece out for himself when Angela wasn't looking. "Hey, marble cake, cool," Karen observed when they cut out pieces for themselves and scooped out some chocolate ice cream to go with it.

"See Michelle? Everything is salvageable," Lily pointed out as she happily ate her cake. Ironically, the smallest girl had the biggest piece of cake and had three scoops of chocolate ice scream sitting on the plate next to the cake. Michelle reluctantly agree.

"We can go out back and shoot some hoops after we finish here," Danielle suggested. Michelle brightened considerably, and Karen and Lily both bought the act. They went out back and played until it got dark, though Michelle could feel Danielle gazing at her in concern the whole night. When they finally settled in on the couch at the end of the night with some soda, chocolate, and popcorn to watch scary movies until dawn, Michelle finally managed to let go of most of her rage, and Danielle luckily left her alone. However, deep inside, Michelle was still angry, and she had meant every word she shouted at Tommy in her fit of rage. It had been a long time coming, but Michelle couldn't help the strange unease sitting in the pit of her stomach.

Nothing would ever be the same. If Tommy had acted differently, if Michelle hadn't hated Tommy with the very fiber of her being, if she had not, unconsciously, decided she would get back at Tommy somehow, then maybe things would not have ended the way they did. Maybe the end result would have been a happy ending. In reality though, many people do not exactly get happy endings. Michelle was one of many people who would not get the ideal ending she wanted, because the world was not made to cater to the wish on one individual girl. Forces that were never meant to exist on the same plane were flying towards each other at a break-neck speed, and there would be a full-on collision in the not-so-distant future.

Unknown to Michelle, everything had been turned on its axis.

* * *

*Ironically, this is what my mother and I call my nephew. His name is not Tommy.

Sorry for the short chapter; I wrote this instead of studying for my midterms. :') I am so, so, so, so, so sorry for how long this update has been. College is hard. I have no idea when the next update will be.

ALSO, I AM ANNOUNCING THIS HERE: I have not logged into my account here in a long time, so I was really upset to see that all of my documents in Doc Manager were gone except for this one. Not all of them were backed up. Luckily, I had not started my update on "Now And Forever!" or "Evolution: Legion of Shadows" so those two were unaffected. "Beat of the Soul, Beat of the Heart" was backed up, but "Pain Is My Medication" "Ice, Fire, Water, Earth, and Sky" and "Here We Stand United" were not. I had also finished a chapter for "The Secrets That Lie Beyond" that was not backed up. The first draft was, but not the revised edition. It made me really mad too, I was so excited to post that sequel but I wanted to finished "Here We Stand United" first. So expect no updates on those any time soon either. This message will also be on my profile shortly.

Thanks for being so patient with me everyone but I still don't exactly have many reviews on this story. I love, love, love constructive criticism so I would really appreciate some reviews! Tell me if I need to change something or improve on something PLEASE!

REVIEW!


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